Vladimir Putin said Thursday that American news outlets are peddling fiction about Russia's favoritism in the presidential election, echoing an argument made by Republican candidate Donald Trump that the media is rigging the contest in favor of his opponent.
The Russian president was asked to comment on Moscow's apparent favoritism toward Trump during his appearance at the Valdai Discussion Club, an annual conference in Sochi, Russia. Putin described the narrative as a "complete falsity" being "peddled by mass media" to guarantee the election of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"When something is getting a spin in mass media, it is never an accident," Putin said. "[This spin is] solely in order to tip the balance of the Democratic candidate's team in its opposition to the Republican candidate, namely Mr. Trump."
Trump has also said that the election is "rigged" against him, criticizing the "corrupt media" for "pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect [Clinton] president."
Putin echoed those allegations on Thursday.
"You create the image of your enemy, that is Russia, and then you claim that your political opponent, Mr. Trump, is a puppet of that enemy," Putin continued. "That is a complete falsity."
Trump has made positive statements about Putin and indicated that he would like to have a good relationship with him, a possibility the Russian president has welcomed. Several individuals connected to Trump's campaign, including former campaign chair Paul Manafort, have ties to Russia.
The U.S. government has also accused the Russian government of directing hacks against American political institutions like the Democratic National Committee in order to influence the presidential election. Clinton has seized on the development to tie Trump to Russia and claim that Moscow is working to defeat her. Clinton called Trump a "puppet" of Putin during the final presidential debate on October 19.
Putin said Thursday that the U.S. presidential candidates are "all the same" to Russia, before welcoming Trump's willingness to improve relations with Russia.
"We can only welcome candidate Trump's statements to improve relations with Russia," Putin said. "Donald Trump chose his own way of reaching out to the electorate, it might be a bit extravagant in our opinion, but I don't think it's as pointless as it seems."
Putin said that Trump represents a "significant" portion of the U.S. electorate that is tired of "political elites."
"He tries to appear as this kind of simple guy who very openly criticized the ruling class and ruling elites," Putin said.
Earlier in the Valdai panel discussion, Putin was asked about concerns over the use of cyber attacks to achieve political goals and whether national electoral systems should be considered "critical infrastructure."
"Interfering in the domestic politics of a sovereign country is unacceptable, regardless of what methods are being used for that," Putin said.
Clinton, who was the architect of the failed Russian "reset" in 2009 while working as secretary of state, has positioned herself as the only candidate who would stand up to Putin. However, transcripts of closed-door speeches posted by WikiLeaks show that Clinton told Goldman Sachs executives in 2013 that she would "love" to build a "more positive relationship" with Russia.
Earlier this year, WikiLeaks released emails from the DNC hack tied to Russia, though the organization has denied having connections to Moscow.
Russian officials have denied carrying out the hack, calling the U.S. intelligence community's findings "baseless." Trump has also questioned whether Russia is to blame for the cyber attacks.
Thursday's forum took place at a time of high tensions between the United States and Russia, which have sparred over the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. The days-long conference in Sochi brought together experts and officials from Russia and abroad who are critical of the United States and the West.